


A tale as old as time

by MellQueenOfHell



Category: Supernatural
Genre: COVID-19, Daddy Cas, Dean and Cas are best friends, Dean loves his Disney, Disney Songs, Idiots in Love, M/M, Pre Relationship, Writer Dean, Young Claire Novak, cheesy as fuck, dean is a softy, doctor cas, gimme a break it's been a while, social distancing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23328454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MellQueenOfHell/pseuds/MellQueenOfHell
Summary: ... And what if all it took was a nasty virus forcing people to stay at home and a little girl obsessed with love? Some Disney movies and a song that everybody loves?Love isn't always complicated, but with these two, it tends to be more than neccessary.
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Castiel
Comments: 12
Kudos: 65





	A tale as old as time

**Author's Note:**

> It feels like forever since I've seen that page o.0 Can't believe I haven't post anything in two years. I'd say that it was some serious writer's block but truth is I have been working on an original story. 
> 
> This was inspired by the video Jensen posted on his Intasgram. You know the one with him and Justice singing. I don't know what else to say, it is cheesy as Hell but I am very proud of myself for finishing it. So I hope you'll enjoy it and I hope it'll make your social distancing a little better today.
> 
> I wish I knew your AO3 alias so I could properly gift this to you girls, but I don't. This is for you Tya and Debby. 
> 
> And a special thank you to my wonderful, amazing fictional wife for editing this for me. I love you babe, more than I can say.
> 
> Stay safe people, stay at home.

When Cas heard the news about school closing, he couldn’t say he was surprised. Disappointed, panicked and anxious yes, but surprised... no! He knew it would come to that, it had to, this nasty virus was getting out of hand.

He would have been more than happy to stay at home with his little girl, teaching her some things of his own, but unfortunately being a doctor meant he had to go to work.

There was some day care system in place to help people who were considered essential services, but he couldn’t bring himself to trust it. What if a neglectful parent decided to still send his sick child? No! It was completely out of the question. He wanted to help, but he wouldn’t put his daughter’s life in jeopardy. Not in this lifetime, nor in the other.

There was one person he knew he could trust with Claire’s life, but recently, they’ve been like strangers. They had a fight, not the first one. When you’ve been friends for more than twenty years you’ve got to expect some fights, but that one had been harder. Being two stubborn sons of bitches, they hadn’t called each other to apologize. Two months, it has been the longest they’ve ever gone without talking.

Reluctantly, because deep down he knew he was at fault in their last fight, he called his friend. He wasn’t even sure he would pick up, but he had to try.

“Hello?” Came the familiar voice.

No “hiya Cas,” like he was used to, no warmth in his voice, nothing. That was not promising.

“Hello Dean!”

“Cas? Hey man, I didn’t check my phone before answering.”

“How are you Dean?”

“I’m fine,” he said. Castiel knew there was more he wanted to add but didn’t.

“How’s the book coming along?”

“We don’t talk about that offending manuscript Cas, we don’t,” he said laughing, though it was a shallow thing.

“Alright, my apologies. Did you hear the news?”

“What news? That we are all gonna die?”

“We are not gonna die Dean.”

“I know Cas, I was exaggerating. If people can just understand that they had to stay the fuck at home, everything will be alright.”

“Yeah. Well we can’t all stay at home Dean.”

“I wasn’t talking about you, Mr.-I’m-saving-lives-for-a-living.”

“That is kinda why I am calling,” he said deciding to ignore Dean’s nickname, “I don’t feel very comfortable with Claire going to...”

Dean didn’t let him finish,

“Bring the munchkin over Cas.”

“Are you certain, that won’t mess with your schedule?”

“Actually, I think it’ll do me good. Been missing that little firecracker.”

“She missed you too Dean,” he hesitated a moment, “So did I.”

“Me too Cas, me too. Bring Claire every time you have to go to work, no problem. We’ll have fun.”

***

Dean was binge watching The Flash on Netflix, pretending that his next book wasn’t mocking him from his laptop, when his phone rang. Knowing it was probably his editor he didn’t look and picked up.

Hearing Cas’ voice was a balm to his heart. He’d missed his friend since their last fight. Of course, he could’ve called him, but for once it was Cas who had gone too far. He was right, to a certain degree, but what he had said to Dean had been out of line. It was not his business if Dean was still bringing one-night-stands home at forty-one. Being called a slut and a man-whore in front of his “guest” was out of line.

He could feel on the phone how Cas was struggling, the guy was so used to being right, it must not have been easy for him. When he mentioned Claire, Dean knew what he wanted. Of course, he would take care of her. He loved her, almost like she was his own. Though he knew it would never be the case, that ship had sailed a long time ago.

Being in love with Cas hadn’t always been easy, but if something were to have happened between them, surely it would have been when Dean came out to Cas. He wanted to kiss him, tell him that it was him that made Dean figure out he loved men too. Wanted to tell him everything, but the first thing Cas told him was, “Dean, you are my best friend in the world, your sexual orientation will never change that.”

So, Dean swallowed his love confession and tried his best to convince himself that being best friends with Cas was better than losing him because of his feelings. Their lives went on; Cas married a douchebag, who left him a year after Claire was born. Thank god the child was Cas anyway. And Dean wrote his books, and accumulated conquest after conquest. He tried the happy life with Lisa, but his heart wasn’t in it and it wasn’t fair for her.

Dean was glad Cas had called though, if this crisis was what it takes to bring Cas back to him, so be it. Plus, he got to spend time with Claire, and that was a bonus point.

***

The first Day with Claire was kinda rocky. Dean knew how to take care of a kid of course, but a seven years old girl trapped inside all day was much more difficult than a seven years old Sammy who only wanted to learn new things.

Cas dropped her at seven in the morning, and already she was full of energy. Cas asked Dean if he could do some schoolwork with her, and he thought he’d start with that. A fool, that’s what he’d been. A goddamn fool. Claire was so excited to be in his house again that he couldn’t bring her to sit.

When he realised he wouldn’t be able to sit her down and learn some new words, he decided to try something.

“Hey kiddo, remember uncle Dean’s car?”

“Uh, uh.”

“How about we go to the garage and I show you how to take care of her?”

“Cool,” said Claire.

Cas had made sure never to raise his daughter with stereotypes, so Claire had played with cars, she was really obsessed with them at some point, but also with barbies and dolls.

“You gotta change though, can’t have mess up that beautiful dress.”

“I don’t have other clothes.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

Just that part had Claire all excited. Dean took one of his oldest t-shirts and told her to go change. The t-shirt was so big on her; it was like a long dress. He tied it up in the back and made sure she was comfortable.

Changing Baby’s oil would normally take him about an hour, with Claire’s help it took three, but they had fun. She wanted to know every part of the car and Dean patiently explained it to her. He took a picture of her, her face full of car grease but also full of happiness.

They ate lunch together, and he let her prepare the entirety of the meal. With supervision of course. She cut a shitload of vegetables.

“Daddy says it is important to eat them with every meal,” she said proudly slicing the cucumber.

“Your daddy is a doctor; he is forced to say shit like that.”

“You said a bad word,” she chastised.

Dean ate his vegetables and his grilled cheese, congratulating Claire with his mouthful of cheese. That girl made a mean grilled cheese.

In the afternoon, he finally succeeded in teaching her some of the schoolwork Cas had brought. She aced it, and they decided to watch a movie together. Her choice, though she promised Dean he could chose the next day. They watched Frozen, the first one.

“Uncle Dean?”

“Yeah munchkin?”

“Elsa said to Anna that she can’t marry someone she doesn’t know, but Anna said she loved him. Why can’t she marry him?”

“You’ve seen the movie before kiddo, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I know Hans is a bad guy, but Elsa didn’t know that.”

“Well, I’d say love takes a little more time than that. You have to know each other a little to fall in love.”

“What is love exactly?”

“It’s uh, it’s a wonderful feeling, or it could be.”

“What does it feel like?”

“It depends on the kind of love. For example, when you see you dad how do you feel?”

“Happy, safe.”

“That is love.”

“You answered the exact same thing he told me. I want to know about other kinds of love.”

“Aren’t you a little young for that?”

She crossed her little arms over her and re concentrated on the movie. What could he possibly say anyway? “Love is how I feel about your father?” She was smart for her age, but he didn’t think she could keep it a secret.

“Sing with me uncle Dean,” she said as Elsa started singing the famous let it go song.

“I don’t know the words munchkin.”

“Yes you do.”

And they sang together. He didn’t know all the lyrics, but he could join her in some parts.

Castiel arrived just as the movie was ending, and thanked Dean about a hundred times in the course of a minute. Dean wanted to have them stay for dinner, but Cas seemed really tired, so he didn’t ask.

“Thank you again Dean, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow Cas. Bye munchkin,” he said dropping a little kiss on her head.

***

Everyday were spent doing much of the same. In the mornings Dean would do something fun but with a little learning curve in it with Claire, and in the afternoon they would do some school work and watch a movie.

They did a treasure hunt. Dean had hid candies all over the house but to find them Claire had to solve a puzzle. They built a bird house with some wood Dean could find in the garage. Claire begged him to do dress up and make up and Dean allowed her to put make up on him. Apparently, he was as pretty as a princess.

They adopted a virtual dog, painted a giant rainbow on the window and even baked some wonderful cupcakes, which Claire was very proud of.

Every day, Claire would try him with a love question. It was like the little girl was obsessed with it.

“How do you know you are in love with someone uncle Dean?”

“Well, sometime you just know. Sometime a little something happens and you just realize its true.”

“Huh.”

***

“Uncle Dean, how can we know if someone else is in love?”

“Depends if they are trying to hide it or not. For example, when someone is in love, they tend to only see the good in the other person, so they’ll talk about them a lot and always positively.”

“Daddy talks a lot about you,” she said innocently, “and he never says a bad word. Maybe he is in love with you.”

Oh, how Dean would have loved it to be real.

***

“Have you ever been in love?”

“Yes.”

***

“Are you in love right now?”

“Maybe.”

***

“I heard Daddy talking with uncle Gabe yesterday, they were talking about love.”

“Yeah?” Oh, he knew it wasn’t right to engage into that conversation, but he was only human.

“And he was talking loudly.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he didn’t look at him any special way.”

“Him?”

“He did not say a name, what does it mean anyway? Looking at someone funny?”

“Sometimes, when you really love someone, you might look at them when they are not looking. And just because they make you happy, you smile.”

“Daddy look at you like that,” she said before returning to her drawing.

***

“Uncle Dean?”

“Yeah Claire?”

“I love you.”

“Do you?” He said half amused half scared.

“Yes, I feel happy when I am with you and very safe. I wish you were my father too. You should marry Daddy.”

“Don’t I wish,” he thought to himself.

***

They watched a lot of Disney. Frozen, three times, Frozen II, Aladdin, (the last one with Will Smith), so what if Dean had a little crush on Will, who wouldn’t? Have you seen the guy? And Claire knew all the songs.

Because he loved to see Claire smiling, Dean started learning how to play all the songs on his guitar and he would play and sing with Claire just for fun.

Truth is, he was living the Dream, with a capital D. He was at home with everything he needed, spending it with his favorite kiddo in the world and he could see Cas every day, even if it was just a couple of minutes when he would drop or pick Claire up. If he was honest with himself, it had been one of the best weeks of his life.

***

With Claire’s incessant talk about love, and her comments about Cas behavior, the dream of being with Cas started again. He would wake up in the middle of the night, disoriented and almost reaching for Cas in his bed before remembering that the other man was not and had never been in his bed.

What if Claire was right though? They say kids always tell the truth. Of course, the fact that she thought was the truth didn’t mean it was. But what if? Maybe he was getting old, maybe it was because of the entire crisis they were going through, but for the first time since he came out to his best friend, he wanted to tell him.

The eighth night, he called his brother.

“What’s up Dean, Claire hasn’t killed you yet?”

“We are having a great time Sammy, makes me...” he stopped, was he really gonna start talking feeling with Sam?

“Makes you what?”

“I just wish I had this, Sam, all of this.”

“Including Cas?”

“Including Cas. I’m tired Sammy.”

“I’ve been telling you since you were seventeen years old Dean, the guy is in love with you. I don’t know what you are waiting for.”

“If that was true, why didn’t he say something when I came out?”

“Maybe he didn’t want you to think he wanted to jump your bones.”

“Maybe..?”

“Listen, I know what you think. You are afraid he’s gonna stop talking to you.”

“Sammy, I’m just... he’s a doctor.”

“Dean, you are a renowned writer, your books are so popular they’ve made movies.”

“But...”

“Do what you want Dean, but maybe it’s time you give you and Cas a chance.”

That conversation didn’t help him, not at all. He wanted Sam to tell him what to do, but of course Sam would never do that.

That weekend, Dean tried his best to concentrate on his book, but nothing seemed to work. All he could think of was Cas, Cas, Cas. He hadn’t felt like that since the very beginning, and it was very tiring. When Monday came, he was half happy, half frustrated to see Cas dropping Claire.

Of course, once she was all settled, they had their fun, but his heart wasn’t in it. Not as much as it should have been.

“We should prepare a meal for daddy,” said Claire out of nowhere.

“You want to prepare what?”

“I don’t know, what if we cook him something and we can all eat together when he comes and pick me up.”

“He seems pretty tired when he arrives; I think he prefers to go home.”

“But...”

“Maybe Friday, we can ask him for Friday.”

And so that was settled, Claire jumped Cas when he arrived that night and it was decided they would all eat together on Friday night. Social distancing or not.

For the rest of the week, Dean introduced Claire to the old Disney movies. Cinderella, Snow White and Beauty and the Beast, which was his favorite.

“Why is it your favorite?”

“Because, he’s a beast, he has nothing, but she gave him a chance and it is beautiful. That is a beautiful love story.”

“I’d like a Disney movie with two princes.”

“Why?”

“Because you and Daddy could dress up and pretend you are in love for a night, so daddy wouldn’t be so sad.”

“Cas is sad?”

“Yes, he is. He says he misses you.”

“That doesn’t mean he loves me sweetheart.”

“I think he does.”

“Ok,” he said hugging her.

***

The next song Claire wanted him to play on his guitar was the one in Beauty and the Beast. She was very excited when he told her he already knew it, but she had to keep it a secret. They learned the lyrics together and sang.

Dean was charmed by Claire once again, she was wearing a beautiful blue dress, her hair was tied up in a high ponytail and her bright eyes were shinning. He didn’t know what time it was; they were so into their song it was like time had stopped.

Maybe, maybe she was right. Maybe he should tell Cas.

***

Having Dean taking care or Claire had been a blessing for Castiel. With everything going on, at least he didn’t have to worry about his little girl. Seeing Dean interacting with her everyday though, that was hard on his heart. He’d been in love with him for a long time, but he knew Dean didn’t reciprocate his feelings. If he did, he would have certainly said so when he came out. They were best friends, and that was more than enough for him.

Wednesday though, a woman died on his watch. He’d done everything he could, but she was already sick, and the virus got her. Her husband held her hand until the very end, and Castiel could see how hard it was to do it with all the gloves and protection. The man told him they had been together for almost seventy years, that she was his best friend, his everything.

That made Cas think about himself. He wanted a lover that would hold his hand like that, he wanted someone to share his life with. And he wanted that someone to be Dean. He wondered what his life would be if he could just tell the man how he felt.

When he knocked on Dean’s door, there was no answer. It was strange because he could hear music coming from the inside. He knocked again. No one answer so he tried the door. It was unlocked.

Curious, he followed the sound. He was not prepared for the scene in front of him. Dean was playing his guitar and Claire was beside him. They were singing, perfectly in sync and looking at each other with so much love.

_-_ _Tale as old as time  
True as it can be  
Barely even friends  
Then somebody bends  
Unexpectedly_

_Just a little change  
Small to say the least  
Both a little scared  
Neither one prepared_

_Beauty and the beast_

It was that sight that shattered his whole world. He was done denying himself, done pretending being friends with Dean was enough. He was scared as hell, but he was ready.

He approached them, and he saw that Dean had seen him from the corner of his eyes.

_-_ _Certain as the sun  
Certain as the sun  
Rising in the east  
Tale as old as time_

_  
Song as old as rhyme  
Beauty and the beast_

_Tale as old as time  
Song as old as rhyme_

_  
Beauty and the beast_

_Beauty and the beast_

They finished and laughed together, Claire jumped off the couch and into his arms. He hugged her tight and then whispered something in her ear.

“Can you go play in the kitchen for five minutes, I need to talk with Dean privately.”

He placed her on the floor, and she ran to the kitchen.

“Hey Cas, sorry we didn’t hear you we w...”

But he didn’t get to finish, Castiel didn’t let him. With one long stride, he was in front of Dean. He took his face in hands, losing himself in the green of Dean’s eyes, silently asking for Dean to stop him.

But he didn’t, he just stood there and waited. So Castiel closed the gap between their mouths. The world stopped spinning as Dean kissed back with everything he had.

“I am so in love with you,” he said, barely detaching their lips.

“That is all it took, a song from a Disney movie?”

“I have been in love with you since we were stupid teenagers Dean, I was never brave enough to say it.”

“I’ve been in love with you for a long time too Cas, I just thought you could never love me back.”

“You were always a little stupid,” he said laughing.

“Shut up and kiss me again.”

Castiel didn’t need to be asked twice. They kissed for what felt like forever, only stopping to breathe. They would have kissed longer, but Claire reappeared in the living room with her bag ready to go home.

“See uncle Dean, I told you daddy loved you.”

Dean and Cas both laughed, taking Claire into their arms for a big hug.


End file.
